New blog site

Well seeing as I have a number of different blogs, I'm focusing down to making my main organizing/ministry/events blog at SummitStar Press. And my personal blog on what's going on in my life will be at WordPress.

Look at SummitStar Press if you want information about organizing your life, planning events and conferences, or ministry and leadership.

WordPress will cover what's happening on the family and work front!

Happy reading!

New book announcement

I'm delighted that the new book, I'm Not Neat But I'm Organized, will be shipping in October! We are starting presales on the book which can be found at http://www.summitstarpress.com.

Here's the fun part. My husband, who is very different than me when it comes to organization (his strategy for organizing is to "marry well") helped edit my book. After editing, he said, "Did you notice how clean my desk is? Everything is organized! Look, I moved away the things I don't use very often, just like you said in your book!"

I was so proud of him! I never tell him to clean his desk since, after all, my book is about valuing organization, not neatness. But when he edited the book and discovered how he could use his natural style to get organized, he put the tips into practice and put together a very simple system that now works for him.

Now his desk is neat and mine is a disaster.

So, hats off to my husband. He's suffered through editing the book. He said, "Editing a book on organizing is like asking you to edit a book on car parts." (He loves cars - he's an engineer. I'm a graphic designer whose only answer to his questions about what kind of car someone has is, "It's blue.")

I'm Not Neat But I'm Organized

I am currently at a writer's conference and am very excited that one publisher told me he is very interested in my book on personal organizing styles that he wants to do a contract! The publisher shall remain nameless but a number of other houses have expressed interest in the book proposal.

For those who are curious, this new book is a fun look at how to get your life together in a way that fits who you are. It focuses primarily on your workspace. You will learn about how to organize your time, your space, and then the two together, which is your workflow.

For example, one of the styles is the Turtle. The Turtle likes to have things tidy so her space looks spotless and beautiful. But open her drawers, and you will see a National Disaster Area. The book gives ideas on how Turtles can keep their spaces organized both outside and inside.

Finally, people are freed from guilt. No more guilty feelings for not having a model home or a desk as sparse as a Martian landscape. It also makes fun of organizational manics (like the author) who obviously were dropped on their heads at birth.

If you are curious and can't wait for the book, check out the very condensed seminar at http://www.summitstarpress.com/.

Coordinating an off-site event: pre-event

Well, I'm back from being out of town coordinating a conference in Hawaii. Rough life, I know.

It was quite an interesting experience because, due to limited finances, I was not able to go check out the site or meet with people face to face. I pretty much did everything I recommend event planners not to do . . . didn't look at the site beforehand, didn't know who the volunteers would be, didn't know who the leaders were, and scrambled and made everything up on the fly.

It's situations like these where planning skills are put to test. Although circumstances outside of my control prevented me from being able to meet and see things onsite before hand, there were plenty of things to do in advance to keep things flowing smoothly once we got there. So here are some tips for coordinating off site to make your job easier!

Visit the site
It's a top priority to visit the site. In my case, due to limited finances in travel, I was not able to fly over to the site and visit it and had to go with photos, verbal descriptions, and totally winging it when I arrived!

If you are able to visit, go through the rooms and sketch a floor plan, noting electrical outlets, light switches, blank walls, windows, and obstructions to the line of sight (such as pillars). Bring a camera to take pictures - a video camera is a great tool for an accurate view of the room to show other team members.

Communicate via clear documentation
When you are long distance, making verbal arrangements is a good starting point but don't end there. Put everything down on paper or email as a confirmation. Send documentation over, such as:
• Travel information (who arrives when)
• Contact information (cell phone numbers of important team members)
• Schedule - setup, meetings, and events
• Site needs - what you need the site to provide, such as setup, supplies, staffing
• Volunteer needs - job descriptions, number of volunteers and times they need to be available. You will need a local volunteer coordinator to gather the volunteers for you.
• Financial arrangements - who pays for what, how it is paid, what is authorized
• Housing - where your team will be staying

Put together a comprehensive packing list
Start making your packing list in advance and decide who is bringing what. This includes arrangements of getting things from your office to your team members' suitcases and figuring out what stays at the site (and is given away or tossed) and what needs to be brought back home. If you have enough advance notice, try to ship as much as you can, particularly books that can be shipped media mail, which is a lot less cost than bringing extra baggage on the plane!

Plan for two shopping days
Plan for one full day of shopping for supplies, and a half day afterwards to return things or to divvy them up among people. Some things just won't get used and if you want to recover the finances in your budget, set aside some time to return those items.

Define clear job descriptions and responsibilities
Have a meeting of team members and assign jobs to each person. Communicate when each person is expected to arrive each day, what they will be doing, and when they can leave. Talk about how to communicate with each other and how decisions will be made. Some of the important job roles to consider are:
• Director - the person in charge of everything
• Logistics Coordinator - handles everything going on outside of the program (could be handled by the Director if the Director is not involved in the actual program, such as emceeing)
• Program Director (also called the Producer)- handles everything involved in the program, coordinating speakers, entertainers, emcees, tech, and creative elements
• Tech director - oversees tech crew, including sound, lighting, video and PowerPoint
• General Gofer/Runner/Floater - helps out where needed. This person is invaluable! Be sure they can drive in case they need to go run errands.

Other people helpful to have at the event (these can be jobs rolled into another job description because they are more of a part-time role):
• Front of House Manager - oversees the ushers, greeters, is aware of environmental concerns such as temperature, lighting, traffic flow and other issues involving what the audience experiences.
• Food Coordinator - oversees food-related arrangements. if meals or snacks are a large part of your event, have a specified person overseeing this. Otherwise you can delegate it to the Logistics Coordinator who can oversee a leader handling food.
• Registration/tickets - checks people in as they arrive, oversees ticket or registration sales and distribution. This can also be delegated to the Logistics Coordinator.
• Admin/computer person - last minute issues will come up that may need revisions to schedules, printing out new sign-up lists or signage, and other computer-related activities. It's a big help to have someone who is fluid in computer activities.
• Finance Coordinator - provides petty cash, oversees tracking and recording of finances, figures out what to do with the money afterwards, has procedures set up for cash, checks, and credit cards, oversees volunteers handling finances.
• Resource Area Coordinator - oversees volunteers handling sales of merchandise and resources.

Clarify travel arrangements
Let people know when they are going, how they are getting there and what they will be reimbursed (for expenses). If you are renting a few vans and carpooling, let people know what pickup and dropoff times will be so there is less chaos once you get there.

In short, the more work you can do from your office in advance, the less stress you will have once you arrive on site. The nature of events is for the unexpected to happen, so plan for what you expect and then be prepared to be flexible.

Event Decor: Football Theme

For those of you who are interested in ideas to put on a spectacular event, I'll be posting blogs here and there about events too. In my new role overseeing special events at my church, I get the privilege of working with a fantastic team of creative and hard-working individuals!

Here's the outdoor ambience we did for our C3 Halftime Event, a fundraising event that centered around a football theme last month. We converted the courtyard into a football field.



First we cut up the astroturf into pieces and taped them down. Next we cut out stencils for the name in the end zones.



Then it was time to spray it with spray paint.



I worked on the logo by myself, cutting out the stencil. You can also see at the end the pieces of astroturf that haven't been made into a field yet.



Then I sprayed the stencil.



Finished sprayed logo.



Then it was time to tape down the seams. We used white gaffer's tape.



We were tired so we just wanted to go home but then we noticed that one person had taped down some hash marks. In the end, all 3 of us sighed because we are perfectionists so we spent extra time taping down more hash marks. But at least we all worked together and it went quickly! I think they added a lot to the field and made it look more real!



Here's the other side of the field with the name sprayed down!



Then we put up the goal posts, made out of PVC pipe by a volunteer.



And here's the final field! Our courtyard is transformed into a football field!



Here is how the field looked with all the balloons in place - balloon column and a mylar football tied to the goalpost.



Closeup view:



The stage was transformed into a locker room.



All the worship team members wore football jerseys or sports shirts.

Organizing and Creating Ultra-Creative Family Newsletters

It's that time of year to start sending out newsletters! But instead of sending out the usual one-page summary of what's going on, why not create something that's a step beyond and that will bring delight to your friends as they experience your creation?

We've sent out our "newsletter" repackaged in interesting ways. Over the years, these have created a loyal mailing list of people who ask to be kept on. They can't wait to open the package to see what surprise awaits!

We've sent the newsletter as:

• an annual report
• a stamp collection
• a portfolio
• a travel guide
• a Star Trek manual (complete with husband's photo doctored up to be a Ferengi, Vulcan and Klingon)

This year I'm working on a map collection!

Here are some suggestions if you'd like to put together something creative.

1. Decide on content. What do you want to include? There are a multitude of subjects you can include:

• review of events
• photographs
• quotes
• family statistics
• interests (books, movies, hobbies)
• travel

2. Collect information. Go through the calendar and recall what happened last year. Write down notes. Ask family members what they'd like to include. Go through your photos and pick the best ones. I like to put the information into a Word document as a big list of things that might be included.

3. Select a theme. Think about what might make your newsletter more creative. The best source I find is to keep your eyes open for something you might create a spoof out of. You can change your newsletter to just about anything!

• magazine
• newspaper
• brochure
• tickets/movie promotion

4. Figure out your budget. Putting these creations together requires a budget because most likely you will need to get something that's beyond your usual Christmas paper. Estimate how much you might need for:

• paper
• envelopes
• postage
• printer toner or ink/cost of copies
• artistic supplies such as ribbons, fasteners, stickers
• basic office supplies such as tape, glue

5. Purchase supplies. Look for sales or order online. One of my favorite vendors for reasonably priced paper supplies is http://www.marcopaper.com.

6. Lay out your newsletter. Using Word or another publishing program, put your information in order. Try to group similar things together. Think of a layout as a stranger would read it. Are things in logical order? Is it easy to find things? Try to prevent jumping around.

7. Produce your newsletter. Print, copy, cut, assemble. If you have children, this is a good time to put them to work! Then it's time to send them out and relax after all your work!

Welcome!

Like to organize? Like to lead? Like to be creative in your communication? We'll touch on these subjects! To check out more articles, click here.